Every Merlin engine that powers the company's Falcon 9 rocket and every Draco thruster that controls its Dragon spacecraft is first tested on the ground in Texas before launch.

by Staff WritersMcGregor TX (SPX) Mar 10, 2011
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and the City of McGregor have signed a lease agreement allowing SpaceX to expand the size of its rocket development facility in McGregor.

Under the deal, SpaceX will lease 631 acres - the equivalent of almost 500 football fields - for its test facility. The new lease will more than double the size of the current 256 acre site on the Western edge of the City of McGregor, and will last roughly 10 years, from February 2011 to January 31, 2021.

"This lease will allow us to move forward on the growth we have planned for Texas. SpaceX already has more than $2.5 billion in launch contracts for us to carry out over the next few years - McGregor is going to be a very busy place."

The McGregor city council voted unanimously to support the proposal on Friday, February 25, 2011. The final contract has been signed.

SpaceX designs, manufactures, tests, and launches reliable, safe and affordable rockets that carry satellites and spacecraft to orbit, and spacecraft to transport cargo and eventually astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Every Merlin engine that powers the company's Falcon 9 rocket and every Draco thruster that controls its Dragon spacecraft is first tested on the ground in Texas before launch.

Since starting operations in Texas in 2003, SpaceX has invested $50 million in McGregor and expects to have at least 140 employees by year's end. Texas operations in McGregor will continue to expand to support dozens of upcoming launches already under contract, with more on the way.

In addition, SpaceX is in negotiations with NASA to develop and test a launch abort system for the Dragon spacecraft. That development will begin in McGregor.

On December 8, 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company to successfully return a spacecraft from orbit, a feat achieved by only a few nations in the history of space travel. The December flight was SpaceX's first demonstration flight under NASA's COTS program to develop commercial supply services to the International Space Station.

SpaceX will fly at least 12 missions as part of a $1.6 billion contract for NASA to carry cargo to and from the Space Station after the Space Shuttle program ends later this year. Both the Dragon spacecraft and SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket were designed from the beginning to carry astronauts and are well positioned to fly the first-ever commercial, manned space missions.

Andrews Space Awarded USAF Reusable Booster System Study ContractSeattle WA (SPX) Mar 08, 2011Andrews Space (Andrews) has announced that it has been awarded a contract by the United States Air Force (USAF) to study higher risk aspects of the Air Force's proposed Reusable Booster System.
The USAF is studying Reusable Booster System (RBS) technologies and operations concepts to better define future risk reduction flight demonstration requirements. The RBS consists of a reusable first ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement